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Georgia Southern displays posh football facility

Brittney Lohmiller / Savannah Morning News - Georgia Southern University football player adjusts the weightlifting bench inside the new weight room at the football operation center August 12. The $10 million dollar building is part of Southern's renovation at Paulson Stadium that included adding more seating and a new videoboard to the stadium.

Brittney Lohmiller / Savannah Morning News - Georgia Southern University football players from left, Rashad Williams, Kentrellis Showers, DeionStanley and Nick Wright joke with each other inside the new locker room at the football operation center August 12. The $10 million dollar building is part of Southern's renovation at Paulson Stadium that included adding more seating and a new videoboard to the stadium.

Brittney Lohmiller / Savannah Morning News - Director of Athletics for Georiga Southern University Tom Kleinlein talks about the amenities in the new football operation center August 15. The $10 million dollar building is part of Southern's renovation at Paulson Stadium that included adding more seating and a new videoboard to the stadium.

STATESBORO — Georgia Southern middle linebacker Edwin Jackson had a simple way to describe the football operations center, his new home away from home.

“It was everything more than what I expected,” said the senior about the 50,000-square foot facility that sits beyond the east end zone at Paulson Stadium.

Southern officials gave a tour of the new building Friday afternoon for the media, before opening the doors to the public. A few members of a cleaning crew were still in the building before the event started, possibly wiping away any smudges that might ruin perfection.

A whiff of new car-like smell still permeated the weight room.

The two-story facility houses a Georgia Southern football hall of fame along with coaches offices, meeting rooms, video rooms, a professional-style locker room, an athletic training center, an equipment room and a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning room.

“You see what people gave back ... what people do who have a heart for Georgia Southern,” Jackson said.

A plethora of glass windows gave just about every room a scenic view overlooking Paulson Stadium, where a second deck was erected just in time to coincide with the football team’s move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

“We tried to create a building to tell our story, but also where we’re going,” said tour guide/athletic director Tom Kleinlein, who a few weeks ago revealed the privately funded facility cost between $11 million and $12 million.

The Hall of Fame provided a walk into the past, touching on everything from Georgia Teachers College to the modern era when football restarted in 1982.

Walls were dedicated to Southern players taken in the NFL Draft and those earning All-American honors.

The program’s greatest moments and history were documented along with acknowledgment of national championship-winning coaches Erk Russell, Tim Stowers and Paul Johnson.

Russell’s statue was moved from the front of the Bishop Field House to the outside of the football operations center.

To end the tour, school president Brooks Keel ceremonially turned on the video board atop the football facility, beginning a montage of various Georgia Southern athletic highlights.

The video ended with a parting message from first-year football coach Willie Fritz, who says “That is how you GATA.”

The Eagles’ six national championship plaques from the Football Championship Subdivision are prominently displayed together in the Hall of Fame, but curiously without room for expansion.